Empire Metals Ltd (AIM:EEE) progress toward mine development at its Pitfield titanium project, in Western Australia, continues to gather great momentum.
The small-cap firm today reported significant progress on the proposed mine’s process flowsheet and metallurgical test work.
Development of the flowsheet continues at a rapid pace, with several of the initial process stages now tested and proven to be effective for recovering anatase and rutile (which are the most abundant titanium minerals encountered in the project’s mineralised weathered cap).
Empire noted that gravity and flotation techniques have proven effective for recovering anatase and rutile minerals from ore samples.
Gravity separation achieved titanium mineral recoveries of between 60% and 80% into a heavy mineral concentrate, while acid leaching tests on gravity concentrates achieved a 95% dissolution rate for anatase.
Froth flotation tests on the finer fraction of the ore produced a rougher concentrate, with subsequent acid leaching achieving a peak titanium extraction rate of 91%.
"I am extremely pleased to provide this update on the success of the ongoing metallurgical test work and flowsheet development, which continues to gather great momentum,” managing director Shaun Bunn said in a statement.
“The successful application of froth flotation to recover high-grade titanium dioxide minerals from the fines fraction of the weathered ore is an important step in designing an efficient and robust process flowsheet.
“Importantly, the titanium dioxide minerals contained within the flotation concentrates responded well to the subsequent leaching stage, with titanium recoveries peaking at 91%.
Bunn added: "Looking ahead, the metallurgical test work will now focus on testing various titanium product development options and will assess the purification and refining stages to determine the steps required to achieve a high-purity, high-value TiO2 product."